Saturday, June 22, 2013

Enshrined

Hot pot
In the area to the northwest of Kathmandu, south of the Ganesh Himal and Manaslu, a few less well-known hot springs can be found.
 
Jharlang hot spring is to be found in the district of Dhading, not so far from from Kathmandu. Jharlang takes it name from the village with the same name. It's a day and a half walk from the district capital of Dhading Besi (source).

Further far away is the hot spring of Chalise (Charlise, Chalish). There is this discription:
'Today we will get rest in the village as we have long way up and down to and will have good communication but there are some sight visiting place called Tatopani where the hot spring. The pot is not very big but it is naturally hot. There are three pond at the same place will take 1:30 hours from the Chalise village'.
Could this be the hot spring:

Blue-green
In Gorkha district we learn (should be past tense: the link is broken! ... sigh) there are two hot springs:
'Tatopani hot water spring site (at 3,300ft) half an hour from Khorlabensi [Khola Besi], Machha Khola village hot spring on the other side of Bun [Buri] Gandaki'.
Both hot springs are located along the Budi Gandaki river. 

See the photo below by Mann Gurung, simply entitled 'Tatopani':

Hugolitonepal:
'That night we stop in a town called Tatopani, meaning “hot water”. The village is exploiting a nearby hot spring and that’s where it takes its name from. Before nightfall, I go down to the river. We have never been this close to Buri Gandaki. I find a nice spot on the rocks to sit and look at the blue-greenish alpine water. I stare at the patterns forming in whitewater, just fascinated for a moment. Before I know it, the sun has gone. Time for me to go as well'.
Me briefs on tatopani but walks faster than the first quote above:
'there is a small hot spring 20 min further'. 
There is though little info on the specific hot spring on the other side of Buri Gandaki. 

Possibly the same but possibly not, an art lover details:
'Just south of the town of Arughat, along the Buri Gandaki River in central Nepal there is a small hot spring which has been channelled into a public bath. Next to this bath are two small buildings which over the centuries were used as Buddhist and then Hindu shrines'.
Just so as not to confuse: Arughat hot spring near Arughat. Tatopani hot spring between Machha Khola and Khola Besi. Unless I have them mixed up ...


HOT spring in Tatopani from perfilov

Saturday, April 6, 2013

 'Tatopani hot spring'
The Tatopani, northwest of Dhunche, Nepal. From the photobucket page of Bramsam.

'Baignade dans des thermes naturels'
Tirthapuri hot springs, west Tibet. From en roues libres

Borong hot spring, Sikkim, India. From the webstagram account of skoisirius :
'Discovered the #Borong #HotSprings today. After one of the bumpiest rides on #twowheels ever, around 20 clicks later, we ended up at a huge hole in the road and had to walk from there. 40 minutes through a Nepalese #Shire (not joking) we hit the river and right next to it, this simple, yet #natural #pool of lovely #sulfury water. Our soakmates: #Sikkimese , #Nepalese , and #Bhutane , in which a few of the younger men spoke decent enough English for small talk. The hike back up through the Shire was an hour and a half long and decently intense ventute, but with the help of a local man, we located our transpo and were off on a whole different adventure getting back to #Ravangla. Quite the rewarding and overall incredible day! Stoke. | #Sikkim #India #Globetrotter #Winning #Travels #AreWeStillInIndia'

'Pakistan  
Baltistan, Hot Springs'.
From the flickr page of  Gaetano Pezzella

'child_hotsprings_malki
A child enjoying the hot springs at Malki, Kamchatka [Russia]'
From the flickr account of  Jorgen Dalen


Thursday, February 21, 2013

Soaking Snippets

An avid follower would have noticed that gradually all blog entries are being updated / corrected / reworked / expanded. But this is a very slow process so I want to add a short photographic overview of recent Himal finds.

Examples:

Puga hot water springs  
 Puga Natural hot water springs [Ngari, Tibet]. geothermal spot. Look at hand of man every where on earth. Its covered with a drum and some old clothes. And as usual some pepsi bottles. This is a rich source of sulphur. Soon this spot will be eaten up by some chemical industry. 

(Source from flickr: Rithwik)

Hot springs near Dzogchen Valley [Sichuan]
(Source: Denis Lipatov
Tub [Kirgistan]
Source: Roberto de La Tour on flickr

Somewhere in Lamjung, Nepal. From Buzz Nepal Treks Facebook page.

Besides the ferry crossing, we had heard that somewhere in Gele [Yunnan] there were hot springs. When we found it, the single spring turned out to be a bit of a sad affair. There had obviously once been a structure built around the spring. The walls still stood — although they were in serous disrepair — but the roof had long ago disappeared.
It was actually a refreshing change when compared to Kunming's dolled-up hot spring spas. This single water hole was rustic, quiet and we had it to ourselves. We settled slowly into the scalding water and collectively let out a sigh. After three days on bikes and three nights of near-freezing temperatures, the water was heavenly.
From the GoKunming.com blog.

Ugyen's family sits inside one of the four bath tubs. Grandfather and grandmother soak themselves and scrub one another inside the bath while the children amuse themselves. The bath is partitioned in a way so that the doh can not enter the main bathing vessel, protecting each body from contact with the scalding stones. 
A hot stone bath, a tradition from Bhutan. From the blog of A Year of Blue Poppies